270 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



dowment of kindred institutions, designed, like these, for 

 the diffusion of useful knowledge among the people. 



Resolved (8), That the convention respectfully suggests 

 to the Legislature the propriety and expediency of reserving 

 the entire proceeds of the sales of the public lands of the 

 Commonwealth from and after the period when the 

 common-school fund shall have reached the maximum 

 fixed by the act of 1834 for purposes of education and 

 charity, with a view to extending that aid and encourage- 

 ment to a system of agricultural education, which the im- 

 portance of the subject so imperiously demands. 



The discussion over the different resolutions was, as the 

 faithful chronicler puts it, continued, protracted, and at 

 times vigorous. It was carried over into the evening session, 

 and among those taking part we find the names of Marshall 

 P. Wilder, Governor Boutwell, President Hitchcock of 

 Amherst College, Professor Fowler of the same institution, 

 Judge Mack of Salem, and William Buckminster, editor 

 of the "Massachusetts Ploughman." 



John Brooks of Princeton appears to have been the only 

 opponent. He said : " This resolution seems to squint toward 

 a college. If it has that tendency I shall be opposed to it, 

 for I do not believe that the farmers are prepared to spend 

 money in instituting a college. ... As for lecturing to the 

 people, I doubt whether that is advantageous, for the very 

 best reason to my mind in the world, that the lecturer 

 will not know what to say; that he has no data on which 

 to make out any speech, because science, as I understand 

 it, is based upon facts. What facts has this commissioner 

 that are applicable to agriculture in this State? I say, sir, 



